Business Blogging – Royal Pronouns in the Post?

Mignon Fogarty is “Grammar Girl”, a San Francisco journalist who covers grammar and writing. Fogarty has some interesting things to say about the “wee” word “we”. The pronouns a writer chooses, she explains, set the point of view and the tone of a passage.  That’s especially true when a speaker means “I” but says “we” to make some grandiose statement. Editors do it, because they’re speaking for the leadership of the publication. Royals and politicians use “we” as well, to speak for their entire administration, or perhaps to make their utterances seem more important that they are.

When it comes to freelance blog content writing, I believe, there’s a very special purpose to be served by using the pronoun “we” – greater honesty. What do I mean? Using first and second person pronouns helps keep a the blog conversational rather than either academic-sounding or sales-ey.

Yet “I” is not always in order if you want to be honest about the blog creation. In fact, we (there it is again!) discourage our Say It For You clients from having the “ghost” blogger “pretend” to be the business owner or professional. On the other hand, in writing “we think”, “we believe”, “we see this all the time”, the blog writer makes herself part of the team that has a particular slant or opinion to share.  Used that way, the “we” isn’t pompous or “royal” or even editorial – it just works!

Compare these two versions:

“At XYZ Company, questions and problems are handled promptly and efficiently. Our staff is trained to go all-out in serving our clients.”

“At XYZ, we believe taking care of questions and problems promptly is every bit as important as making a sale. Whether it’s on the phone or in person, we go all-out to serve you.”

In conversing with readers through blog content writing, setting a “just between you and me” tone, you simply can’t beat the “wee” word WE!